What's the EV opinion poll on the national movement against banks and the financial services industry? I won't post Ghandi quotes or link to radical or establishment articles about the Occupy movement. This choir don't need preaching to but does anyone wanna comment? I know GSO is kicking off Saturday. I was at Occupy Oakland tonight, it could be over a 1,000 US cities and dozens of countries by the time you read this.
For the last couple weeks and the next few I think Americans are/will be asking and trying to answer some really difficult questions. It's beyond soundbites on all sides.
At this point you are living through/observing/participating in the largest critique (I didn't quite say revolt) against representative democracy and capitalism in your lifetime. Wow.
I have my opinions, you show yours and I'll show mine.
I've been involved with the GAs here in Greensboro and it's been a pretty amazing process to watch unfold. I've been most surprised by the age diversity of the people turning out up to 3x a week to meet and plan. The normal faces of (mostly white) activism have of course been present, but there have been families, children, high school kids, elderly, you name it, turning out to participate. It's challenged me to really think about how, even through all my studies and work and organizing and training and all my talk about "changing shit", I actually have no fucking clue what it's actually going to look like or what it's going to take to turn this system on its head. It's been powerful to sit a room full of hundreds of mostly strangers the past few weeks who all feel the same thing and despite the fact that most of us are scared shitless at the thought of failing or the realization that none of knows what it's going to look like, we are all angry and tired and scared enough to take the chance to try to start creating something different.
ReplyDeleteThere were at LEAST 1,000 marching today in G'boro and we all know that's really something special, and close to 500 are still in the park.
I say if not know, then when?
not sure what it all means but i have never seen this many people (so many of which are totally outside of any leftist party political hubbub) talking about class politics. i have relatives that don't know karl marx from richard marx that are getting riled up and starting to focus their legitimate anger at the rich turds up top. that in itself is inspiring me and is something i NEVER expected to see. not sure how this is all going to shake down but in the end i have a feeling we are all going to learn something (whether its a hard lesson or not)...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletewatch and learn:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fmf7tkecWQ
Fuck yeah Buds. And Newsom, Fred never disappoints!
ReplyDeleteWhat to think? Shit I remember our sorry asses back in 1994 protesting Gingrich's "Contract with America" with placards from some lame marxist party (whose name we sharpie'd over). A couple dozen of us stood on Lee St huffing chemicals from the finishing plant on the corner and clapping when anyone honked at us. The fact that 1000 people marched today in GSO against Wall Street and made decisions based on a horizontal process blows my mind. And the fact they did it solidarity with similarly organized groups in hundreds of US cities is surreal, to say the least.
Short personal wishlist:
1) Keep the Dems, ambitious lefty organizers, and the big business labor unions at bay.
2) Coordinate decision making nationally by electing delegates locally to attend a federated national (global?) council (delegates voting from their base's decisions, not as representatives).
3) Maintain practical autonomy for local occupy groups.
4) Be patient.
Buckle up, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/10/13/are-celebrities-supporting-occupy-wall-street-movements-heroes-or-hypocrites/
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty awesome in terms of the juxtaposition of celebrities that feel the need to comment on situation. Course, it is Fox news. but first seen on Weirddudeenergy.....
I just finished an 11 hour day as the resident representative of the corporate mainstream blah blah blah at Zuccotti park, so I am a little tired and skewed perspective wise, but I do have the view from ground zero, (literally, it's just a block away.)
ReplyDeleteIt has expanded seriously, and the entire project has captured the attention, and the wary interest of folks outside the usual suspects. And the tourists love it.
To all you folks working with it or in solidarity with it- the deal is this. At this point, the papers and the news and even the bankers are listening, watching, waiting. They already cowed the cops into letting them stay the other night. It has succeeded beyond anyone's wildest imaginings. Maggot is right, better not to let it get coopted. That said...
If folks, as anti-disestablishmentarianistic as they are, don't figure out a way to turn some of this frustration into institutional gains of some kind- be it legislative, electoral, judicial, whatever- it will be all for not. Main street is not interested in consensus or the role of transgender IV drug abusers in the wider movement. Let that shit simmer in the left ghetto. What folks want is a reckoning of the super rich and their crimes. And a foil to the nowheresville tea party right. Those folks have in the last two years done a fantastic job of refashioning our society in their vision. Latinos are fleeing Alabama. There are no public union rights in Wisconsin, Ohio, or Indiana. They have elected a republican majority in NC for the first time this CENTURY. If folks don't figure out a way to turn this energy into action that reflects their worldview, it will be a loss. Think on it. It isn't co-option. It isn't sell out. It's changing the facts on the ground.
There is a lot of good, real talk and heartening things to see here. Real people having real discussions. Little kids face painting. Digital democracy everywhere, people shooting photos and videos and having their say. It is a fascinating and powerful thing. The world is listening, for real. What do folks want to do about it?